Getting a breast biopsy and then waiting for the results can be a frightening and confusing time.

That's why Butler Health System appointed Patti Kenaan as the nurse navigator at its Women's Imaging Center, 129 Oneida Valley Road.

Kenaan guides patients through their biopsy aftercare and discusses the biopsy results and what to do next.

Kenaan, who has been a nurse for 44 years, was appointed to the nurse navigator position in March 2013.

“Women, for the most part, they come in for their annual mammogram and they find something of concern and recommend a biopsy. That's where I jump in,” she said.

During a biopsy, a sample of tissue and fluids are removed with a needle and sent for examination in more detail.

Before the biopsy, Kenaan said, “I will go over their health history and medication list, and then prepare them for the biopsy.”

She said preparation includes explaining the several different biopsy methods that could be used based on the location of the lesion on a breast.

Kenaan said, “The actual procedure itself, once we find the spot, the actual tissue sampling takes one to two minutes, but the patient is here much longer.” The patient is under a local anesthetic

“Once the procedure is finished, I come in and stabilize the biopsy site,” she said.

Kenaan will call patients the next day to see how they are doing and if they have any questions or concerns about the biopsy site.

The biopsy results generally take three to seven days, although there are exceptions, she said.

After the results are known, Kenaan will follow up with any patients whose results call for a surgical referral and “at that time I give them a time to ask questions.

“A lot of people are frightened when they get their results. They don't know how bad their cancer is,” she said.

One of her duties is clearing up misconceptions.

“One thing that the general population does not know is that two women can have the same breast cancer, and they can wind up with two very different treatments because no two breast cancers are alike,” she said. “That's one of the things that I help patients understand when I do the follow-up phone call.”

“As an example, I called one woman after she got the results,” Kenaan said. “And she said, 'You didn't tell me that I'm going to be sick and lose my hair.'

“It was her friend that lost her hair and I told her 'Your cancer is not like that,'” she said. “I spend a lot of time on the phone answering those concerns.”

And Kenaan does more for some of her patients.

“Some people are just paralyzed by their diagnosis,” she said.

“Some people, once they have gotten their biopsy results, they take the bull by the horns and schedule their surgeon, they've got their treatment plan lined up.

“But then there are others that are paralyzed and don't know what to do next. Those are the ones I can be of more help to,” Kenaan said.

She will even make appointments with oncologists and surgeons on the patient's behalf.

Cheryl Schaefer, coordinator of the Butler Breast Cancer and Women's Cancer Support Group, said the nurse navigator was needed.

“She guides people in the right direction. A lot of people don't know what to do,” Schaefer said.

“A lot of people find mammographies uncomfortable, but they shouldn't be under the misconception that there should definitely have a lump before they have it explored,” Kenaan said.

If a breast lump is large enough to be palpitated, it's large enough to have spread through the body.

“I can tell you this,” she said. “Since we started doing 3-D mammography in November 2015, we have found some unbelievably early cancers, so early that if they had the old 2-D mammography, they wouldn't have found it.

“Because we are catching cancer so much earlier, it is a much more curable disease,” she said.

Which is good, she added because one in eight women has or will develop breast cancer.

The imaging center screens 550 to 600 women annually for breast cancer, and one in five will have cancerous lesions detected.

“What attracted me to the field was my mother died of breast cancer when I was 12, and my sister is a breast cancer survivor,” Kenaan said. “It's really personal to me. That's why I am still working. I am a member of the Medicare Club but I am still here because I enjoy the work.”